SALIDA — The Colorado Wildlife Commission has seen enough. As far as the nine voting members of the commission are concerned, it’s hasta la vista for “Over the River.”

With a bold, decisive stroke of the pen, the Wildlife Commission, which is charged with protecting, preserving and enhancing the wildlife and wildlife habitat in Colorado, stands unanimously opposed to the controversial landscape art project known as “Over the River” proposed by Bulgarian-born artist Christo.

After listening to measures proposed to minimize impacts to wildlife that were created by the grandiose art project, the governor-appointed commission drafted a letter to Colorado’s Bureau of Land Management director stating that it “opposes the Over the River project and any approval or permitting of the project by the BLM or any other jurisdiction.”

“This is an inappropriate action that we cannot support,” commissioner Dorothea Farris said before initiating the decree at the commission’s monthly workshop in Salida last Thursday. “We have a responsibility to protect the wildlife.”

About 13 years into the artist’s $50 million plan to temporarily suspend 5.9 miles of translucent fabric above the Arkansas River between Salida and Cañon City, the opposition of the Wildlife Commission represents the largest stumbling block for the project to date.

While approval or denial of the project falls outside of the commission’s jurisdiction, its interpretation of detrimental consequences to abundant wildlife throughout the 42-mile corridor carries significant weight as the BLM decides whether to issue necessary permits based upon environmental impacts.

The project has drawn support and criticism from environmental groups and the surrounding community, with a significant outcry from local sportsmen concerned with impacts to resident herds of bighorn sheep. Critics also worry that the Arkansas River fishery and regional fishing economy will suffer from the three-year buildup and removal of the project scheduled for a two-week display in summer 2013.

The sweeping construction zone would include increased traffic and road closures on an already-crowded riverside highway. Highway pullouts and other river access points would be used for various elements of construction work, rendering many inaccessible to fishermen as about 9,000 anchors are installed to hold cables supporting the overhead fabric panels in nearby Bighorn Sheep Canyon and beyond.

“It’s not just bighorn sheep but all the species that will be impacted,” commissioner Robert Streeter said. “There are no redeeming values of this project from a fish and wildlife perspective.”

Division of Wildlife biologists have suggested a number of mitigation measures including habitat treatments, the installation of water guzzlers to provide for sheep displaced by the project and monitoring to identify unexpected impacts. In the letter, commissioners asked the BLM to adopt the DOW mitigation policy as a term and condition of the project’s permit, if one is issued.

But like members of the loosely affiliated coalition who spoke out against the project Thursday, Wildlife Commission members determined the impacts of the project too great to mitigate.

“I applaud the commission for cutting through the political morass and getting back to the pure mission, which is the protection of wildlife habitat in Colorado,” said Dan Larkin, a past president of the 900-member Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society. “My main focus is bighorn sheep, but if this occurs, there’s going to be detrimental impact to aquatics, to terrestrial, to aviaries and on and on. There’s no way it can have a positive or even a neutral effect. So there really is no other course.”

With the prevailing sense that the river corridor offers artistry enough for wildlife and wildlife related recreation, the issue was cut and dried for many on the Wildlife Commission.

“This is a no-brainer, as far as I’m concerned,” commissioner David Brougham said. “I can’t imagine what else we need to know.”

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